Why it suddenly matters
In 2023, about 180 million people worldwide used ChatGPT regularly. In 2025 it was over 800 million. Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews and Bing Copilot are growing just as fast.
More and more of these queries replace classical Google searches. 'Which tax advisor in Berlin is good for the self-employed?' — every third person now asks this in ChatGPT instead of Google.
Consequence: if you don't appear in the answers of these systems, you lose potential customers — even if you rank well on Google.
How AI visibility works
AI models were trained on web content. What was known and credible at training time appears in today's answers.
In live search (Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT with web search), systems pick from current sources — preferring high-authority sources with clear structure and concise answers.
Whoever ranks strongly, answers in well-structured form and gets mentioned in industry media has the best chance of being cited.
How to test your visibility
Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews about typical queries from your industry.
Example for a law firm in Berlin: 'Which firm in Berlin specialises in labour law?'
Are you mentioned? Which competitors appear? Which sources are cited (footnotes)? That tells you what to do.
What you can do
FAQ pages with clear, concise answers — AI systems prefer them.
Schema.org markup (FAQ, Organization, LocalBusiness) on the site.
Industry media mentions: PR, guest posts, study publications.
Wikipedia entry (where relevant) — AI systems use Wikipedia heavily.
Consistent brand description (same slogan, same positioning everywhere).